Providence Gazette

December 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Providence Gazette (December 16, 1775).

“THE Subscriber having entered into the American Army, desires all Persons indebted to him to make immediate Payment to his Wife.”

When William Barton, a hatter in Providence, “entered into the American Army” in 1775, he ran a newspaper advertisement that delegated responsibilities to his wife and a business associate.  He requested that “all Persons to indebted to him … make immediate Payment to his Wife, … who is legally impowered to give proper Acquittances, that he may be enabled to discharge his just Debts.”  It may not have been the first time that his unnamed wife oversaw accounts for the Barton household and her husband’s shop.  Like many other wives of shopkeepers and artisans, she could have had experience assisting her husband by tending to customers while he was busy or away from the shop.  She did not, however, assume responsibility for making sales during her husband’s extended absence while he served in the Continental Army, at least not initially.

Instead, Barton “inform[ed] his good Customers, and the Public in general, that he still continues to carry on the Hatter’s Business, at his Shop … where Mr. SETH LATHROP will supply all Person … with every Kind of Beaver, Felt and Castor Hats.”  Barton did not indicate whether Lathrop previously played a role in the business.  Had Lathrop been an employee or an apprentice who now ran the shop while Barton was away?  Did he take new orders and make new hats according to the tastes of Barton’s “good Customers” and new clients who responded to the advertisement?  Or did he merely sell hats already in stock when Barton enlisted in the army?  Barton’s notice did promise low prices, “the cheapest Rates,” and made assurances about the quality of the hats available at the shop, proclaiming that they were “warranted to be good.”

Barton also declared, “The Favours of the Public will be gratefully acknowledged, by their humble Servant.”  Although he deployed language that often appeared in newspaper advertisement to conclude his notice, he may have intended that his introduction would entice both his existing “good Customers” as well as new customers to support his business and, in doing so, his wife and their household.  Barton likely hoped to leverage his service in the “American Army” as a selling point for his hats.  After all, he chose to disclose that information first, making sure that it framed the overview of his shop that remained open during his absence.  Some advertisers espoused support for the American cause in their newspaper advertisements.  More significantly, Barton demonstrated his commitment to his political principles through his enlistment.  That merited special consideration for his “Hatter’s Business, at his Shop” that remained open in Providence.

November 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Providence Gazette (November 11, 1775).

“WANTED to purchase, Five Thousand Weight of Hog’s Bristles, long and good.”

Cornelius Cooper, a “Brush Maker, from Philadelphia,” experimented with various marketing strategies when he relocated to Providence and placed advertisements in the Providence Gazette in the fall of 1775.  In an advertisement that ran for several weeks, he announced that the “makes and sells, Wholesale and Retail, Sweeping, Hearth, Cloaths, Shoe and Buckle-Brushes, and every other Article in the Brush Way.”  In other words, he produced every sort of brush for any sort of purpose that his customers needed.  He also made a pitch for local consumers to “Buy American,” asking that “every Friend to America, both in Town and Country, will encourage him occasionally” by making a purchase from his shop.  Only in the nota bene that concluded his advertisement did Cooper issue a call that “People will be careful to save their Hogs Bristles,” an essential material for making brushes, “for which he will give a good Price in Cash.”

In a subsequent advertisement, Cooper put his request for hog bristles front and center.  A headline in capital letters proclaimed, “READY CASH.”  The brushmaker explained that he sought to purchase “Five Thousand Weight of Hog’s Bristles, long and good,” and would pay six pence per pound.  Only after he caught readers’ attention with that offer did he list the inventory available at his shop in Providence.  Rather than name general categories of brushes, he made a display of the many kinds of brushes that he made and sold, including “Tanner’s and Currier’s Scouring and Blacking Brushes, Hatter’s Stopping and Planking Brushes, [and] best Weaver’s Sizing or Look Brushes.”  In addition to supplying consumers with brushes to use in their homes, Cooper aimed to supply artisans with brushes specific to their trades.  He also renewed his appeal for “a Lad about 14 Years of Age” to serve as an apprentice, but added that he “wanted, a smart active Negro Boy, about 14 Years of Age.”  Whether the enslaved youth would also learn how to make brushes or instead do other tasks in the workshop, Cooper did not specify.  He dropped the appeal to “every Friend in America,” though likely not because he noticed any discrepancy in advocating for the liberties of white colonizers and seeking to purchase an enslaved youth.  After all, acquiring bristles so he could stay in business seemed to be Cooper’s primary focus in his new advertisement.

October 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Providence Gazette (October 21, 1775).

“THOSE Gentlemen … who have been entrusted with Subscription-Papers … are requested to return them.”

Among the various advertisements in the October 21, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette, one requested that “THOSE Gentlemen, in this and the neighbouring Governments [or colonies], who have been entrusted with Subscription-Papers for printing A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND … return them to the Author,” Isaac Backus, “by the 15th of January next.”  Backus, a Baptist minister, advocate for religious liberty, and one of the founders of Rhode Island College (now Brown University), previously announced this project in an advertisement in the Providence Gazette ten months earlier in December 1774.  At that time, he indicated that “Subscriptions are taken in by the Author, by Mr. Philip Freeman, in Union-street, Boston; by the Printer of this Paper, and by others who are furnished with Subscription Papers in Town and Country.”

Like many other authors and printers, neither Backus nor John Carter, the “Printer of this Paper” who apparently planned to publish the History, went to press without first having an idea how many copies to produce to make the venture viable.  They disseminated subscription proposals to garner interest, asking those who wished to reserve copies to sign the subscription papers entrusted to local agents in their towns.  The combination of subscription proposals and subscription papers served two important functions, inciting demand and gauging the market.  Despite that level of sophistication, Backus did not write directly to the local agents who oversaw the subscription papers “in Town and Country” but instead ran a newspaper advertisement and expected local agents to see it and respond according to the directions in the notice.

Backus originally instructed that prospective subscribers should “send in their Names” by February 1, 1775, “that it may be determined what Number to print,” but the project had stalled as the imperial crisis intensified.  His new advertisement extended the deadline by nearly a year, though this time he reported that the “Work is now in the Press at Providence, and will be ready to deliver to the Subscribers by that Time.”  That seems to have been another miscalculation since the first of three volumes did not appear until 1777, printed by Edward Draper in Boston rather than by Carter in Providence.  The book had a circuitous path to publication.  Backus attempted to use newspaper advertisements to keep subscribers informed, but factors beyond his control intervened.

October 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Providence Gazette (October 7, 1775).

“He presumes every Friend to America, both in Town and Country, will encourage him occasionally.”

When Cornelius Cooper, a “BRUSH-MAKER, from Philadelphia,” relocated to Providence, he ran an advertisement in the October 7, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette to introduce himself to his new neighbors and prospective customers.  The newcomer announced that he “makes and sells, Wholesale and Retail, Sweeping, Hearth, Cloaths, Shoe and Buckle Brushes, and every other Article in the Brush Way.”

Realizing that he was unknown to the residents of Providence, Cooper realized that he might increase sales by giving them sound reasons to purchase his brushes, either to use themselves or to stock in their shops to sell to others.  “As our own Fabrications, of every Kind, hold forth their Utility, in a most conspicuous Manner,” the brushmaker declared, “he presumes every Friend to America, both in Town and Country, will encourage him occasionally.”  Cooper did not need to rehearse current events for readers to understand his meaning.  They knew that the siege of Boston continued, following the battles at Lexington and Concord in April and the Battle of Bunker Hill in June.  They also knew that the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress, went into effect on December 1, 1774, in response to the Coercive Acts.  Colonizers sought to use commerce, especially their choices about consumption, as political leverage to convince Parliament to repeal the Boston Port Bill, the Massachusetts Government Act, and other legislation.  The Continental Association also called on colonizers to encourage domestic manufactures or the production of goods in the colonies as replacements or substitutes for imported ones.  Cooper did his part in making brushes.  Now “every Friend to America” needed to do their part by supporting his enterprise.

Making purchases was not the only way they could do so.  In a nota bene, Cooper requested “that People will be careful to save their Hogs Bristles, for which he will give a good Price in Cash.”  Consuming goods made in the colonies was important, but colonizers could also participate in the production of those goods by collecting materials, delivering them to Cooper, and earning some cash for their efforts.  The brushmaker also noted that he sought an apprentice, “a discreet, active Lad, about 14 Years of Age.”  He would pass along knowledge of his trade and make help the next generation contribute to the local economy.  Readers understood the inspiration and political ramifications without Cooper going into detail in his advertisement.  He presented them with a patriotic obligation and encouraged them to do their civic duty in the marketplace.

September 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Providence Gazette (September 9, 1775).

“SUBSCRIBERS for the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE … are desired by the EDITOR thereof to … settle the balance upon that account.”

Joseph Greenleaf acquired the Royal American Magazine in the summer of 1774 and less than a year later suspended publication following the battles at Lexington and Concord.  Some subscribers apparently had not paid for issues already delivered to them, prompting Greenleaf to insert a notice in the June 9, 1775, edition of the Essex Journal.  It called on “Subscribers for the American Magazine at Newbury, Newbury-Port, and the vicinity … to pay their respective ballances to the month of March.”  That corresponded with the final issue of the magazine.

Three months later, Greenleaf’s son, Thomas, ran a similar advertisement in the Providence Gazette.  “THE SUBSCRIBERS for the ROYAL AMERICAN MAGAZINE, in this and the neighbouring towns,” the notice stated, “are desired by the EDITOR thereof,” Joseph, “to call upon the subscriber,” Thomas, “at J. CARTER’S printing-office, and settle the balance upon that account.”  In turn, Thomas “will give a full discharge.”  The younger Greenleaf “learned printing” from Isaiah Thomas, the printer of the Massachusetts Spy and the founder of the Royal American Magazine, and “managed his father’s printing house” in Boston until it closed in 1775.[1]  He left the city and migrated to Rhode Island, where he worked as a journeyman printer for John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, from September 6, 1775, to April 10, 1776.[2]  The advertisement calling on local subscribers to the Royal American Magazine to settle accounts appeared in the first issue of the Providence Gazette published after Greenleaf began working in that printing office.  Even as he set about his new responsibilities, the journeyman renewed the efforts to collect payment from delinquent subscribers who had not paid for the magazines they received.  His advertisement was not as lively as the one placed by his father.  He did not lament “being driven from his house and business by the perfidious [General Thomas] Gage,” the governor and king’s representative in Massachusetts.  Instead, he left it to subscribers to realize why he no longer resided in Boston.  Some may have hoped that they could avoid settling accounts with the Greenleafs while they remained in Massachusetts, but the advertisement in the Providence Gazette reminded them of their obligation.

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[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 175.

[2] Marcus A. McCorison, “The Wages of John Carter’s Journeyman Printers, 1771-1779,” Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 2nd ser., 81 (1971): 273-303.

August 13

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

“EXTRACTS from the Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL Congress.”

Providence Gazette (August 12, 1775).

In the first advertisement that readers encountered in the August 12, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette, John Carter announced “On Tuesday next will be Published, and Sold by the Printer hereof, EXTRACTS from the Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL Congress, held at Philadelphia on the Tenth Day of May, 1775.”  In the next issue, he inserted an updated advertisement confirming that he had indeed published the work and had copies available for sale.  Carter also listed some of the contents to entice prospective customers: “An Address to the People of Ireland, an Address to the Assembly of Jamaica, a Letter to the Lord Mayor of London, and the Opinion of Congress on the boasted conciliatory Plan offered by Administration in Parliament, February 20, 1775.”  Once again, the printer placed his notice first among the advertisements.  That was not merely an attempt to increase sales by drawing more attention to it.  In both instances, Carter treated his advertisement for Extracts from the Proceedings of the American Continental Congress as a bridge between news and advertising.  The book he hawked provided more extensive coverage of the news that he published in his weekly newspaper.

Providence Gazette (August 19, 1775).

Carter was the first printer to advertise extracts from the meeting of the Second Continental Congress.  In the fall of 1774, printers throughout the colonies advertised local editions of a similar volume that documented the First Continental Congress’s meetings in September and October.  William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, ran an advertisement almost as soon as the meetings adjourned.  Newspaper notices radiated out from Philadelphia as printers in other towns acquired copies and produced local editions for their own customers.  The Bradfords eventually published a Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress.  Only one other printer, Hugh Gaine in New York, produced and advertised a local edition.

In this case, Carter was the first printer to publish and advertise extracts from the Second Continental Congress, doing so in faraway Providence rather than in Philadelphia where the delegates met.  He did so during the brief adjournment that lasted from August 2 through September 13, 1775.  His Extracts, a pamphlet of twenty-two pages, included only the items listed in his second advertisement.  The Bradfords did publish a complete Journal of the Proceedings of the Congress that covered May 10 through August 1, but advertisements for that 239-page volume began appearing in December.  The scope of the project meant that it took the Bradfords some time to accomplish it.  The timing of the advertisements demonstrates that Carter did not merely reprint a set of extracts selected by printers in Philadelphia and then reproduced from town to town as local printing offices received copies.  Instead, he acquired the contents of his Extracts through other means, chose which items to include, and marketed the pamphlet to readers in Rhode Island.

June 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Providence Gazette (May 10, 1775).

“A regular Intercourse between the Colonies, at this critical Juncture, is of the utmost Importance.”

As the imperial crisis intensified in the spring of 1775, Isaiah Thomas, the printer of the Massachusetts Spy, left Boston just before the battles at Lexington and Concord.  He had previously planned to establish a printing office in Worcester, setting up a junior partner to publish the town’s first newspaper.  When he left Boston because his political principles and advocacy put him in jeopardy with royal officials, however, he also decided to transfer his newspaper to Worcester and become the local printer.  After revising his plans, he set about expanding the infrastructure for collecting and distributing news in central Massachusetts.

Worcester, previously lacking a printer and a newspaper, became a much more important hub for disseminating information.  Tarent Putnam aimed to be part of that transformation, announcing in the Providence Gazette that he “has began to ride Post from Providence to Worcester, and proposes, on receiving proper Encouragement, to continue his Ride weekly.”  He departed Providence on Saturdays, “immediately after the Publication of the Providence Gazette,” and returned on the following Thursday.  Thomas published the Massachusetts Spy (now branded the Massachusetts Spy, Or, American Oracle of Liberty) on Wednesdays, which meant that Putnam carried newspapers hot off the presses in both directions.  In addition to carrying letters, the postrider accepted subscriptions “for the Providence or Worcester Papers” and promised that he would “faithfully execute any other Business that may be entrusted to him.”

Yet he did not offer these services merely to earn his own livelihood.  Instead, he asked colonizers to consider the impact they could have on current events if they supported his undertaking.  Putnam asserted that “a regular Intercourse between the Colonies, at this critical Juncture, is of the utmost Importance.”  Accordingly, he “flatters himself that the Friends of Liberty and the Rights of Mankind will afford him every Encouragement.”  Putnam did more than move letters and newspapers from one town to another; he made important contributions to the flow of information that kept citizens informed as the siege of Boston continued and the imperial crisis became a war for independence.  The stakes were high … and readers had an opportunity to play their part by supporting Putnam’s “POST from Providence to Worcester.”  In hiring his services, they simultaneously became better informed themselves and aided the American cause by keeping communities in New England and beyond better connected and aware of the latest information regarding current events.

June 3

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Providence Gazette (June 3, 1775).

“POLLY and LUCY ALLEN, from Boston.”

On June 3, 1775, Polly Allen and Lucy Allen published an advertisement addressed “To the LADIES” in the Providence Gazette.  That notice served as an introduction upon their arrival in the city, informing prospective customers and the community that “all Kinds of Millenary and Mantuamaking are performed by them, at their House on the West Side of the Great Bridge.”  Since the Allens were new to town, they gave further directions that stated their location relative to a resident familiar to readers, stating that they could be found “next door to Amos Atwell’s, Esq.”  New on the scene, they could not rely on their reputation among an established clientele to generate business.  Instead, they assured prospective customers that they made hats and garments “in the neatest and genteelest Manner, and at the cheapest Rates.”  In addition to skillful work on fashionable clothing at the lowest prices, the Allens also pledged exemplary customer service, stating that “all who are pleased to favour them with their Custom may depend on being well used.”

As part of their introduction, the Allens described themselves as “from Boston.”  That made them refugees, of sorts, who had been displaced during the first weeks of the Revolutionary War.  Following the battles at Lexington and Concord on April 19, militias from throughout Massachusetts, joined by companies from other colonies, besieged Boston.  The Massachusetts Provincial Congress, meeting in Watertown, negotiated with General Thomas Gage, the governor, to allow Loyalists who wished to enter the city to do so.  In return, Patriots and other “Inhabitants of the Town of Boston” could leave.  In each case, they could take their effects with them, “excepting their Fire-Arms and Ammunition.”  The Allens apparently took advantage of safe passage out of the city, along with between 12.000 and 13,000 other residents.  When they introduced themselves in the Providence Gazette as “POLLY and LUCY ALLEN, from Boston,” they did not need to say more for readers to piece together why they chose to relocate at that moment.  The Allens may have hoped that their situation would evoke some sympathy among prospective customers or even some curiosity among those who wanted to hear for themselves what conditions had been like since the Boston Port Act closed the harbor a year earlier and, especially, during the siege in recent weeks.  Some clients may have headed to the Allens’ shop in hope of stories as well as new hats and dresses.

March 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Providence Gazette (March 18, 1775).

“The Proceedings of the late Continental CONGRESS.”

It was a brief yet important notice: “A few Copies of the Proceedings of the late Continental CONGRESS May be had at the Printing-Office.”  It was the first advertisement that appeared in the March 18, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette, immediately following the local news.  During the era of the American Revolution, printers often gave advertisements they considered significant, often advertisements for political pamphlets and other publications, that privileged place.  Such notices marked a transition between news selected by the printer and other content submitted by advertisers.  Printers may have expected that readers were more likely to give their attention to notices that followed (or even appeared to continue) the news than if they had been interspersed among other advertisements.

John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, stocked a variety of political publications at his printing office “at Shakespear’s Head, in Meeting-Street, near the Court-House.”  He previously advertised “EXTRACTS From the VOTES and PROCEEDINGS of the AMERICAN CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.”  Once the First Continental Congress concluded its meetings in Philadelphia at the end of October 1774, printers in many towns, including Carter, published and advertised local editions of the Extracts to supplement coverage provided in their newspapers.  Not nearly as many printers, however, published the “JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONGRESS.”  William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, published a Philadelphia edition.  Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, published another edition.  Printers and booksellers in other cities and towns apparently acquired copies of the Journal from the Bradfords or from Gaine rather than devoting resources to producing local editions.  They believed that a market existed for that publication, even if local customers demanded only “A few Copies” to read along with the Extracts that provided so much information about the work of the First Continental Congress.  As the imperial crisis intensified in the first months of 1775, Carter suspected that readers of the Providence Gazette might desire their own copies of the Journal.

January 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Providence Gazette (January 21, 1775).

“TO be Sold, by Order of the Committee of Inspection … sundry Merchandize.”

In December 1774 and January 1775, newspaper advertisements became records of compliance with the provisions of the Continental Association, a nonimportation, nonconsumption, and nonexportation agreement adopted by the First Continental Congress when it met in Philadelphia in September and October 1774.  The tenth article of the Continental Association made provisions for goods that arrived during the months December 1774 and January 1775, items that likely had been shipped before American merchants and shopkeepers could cancel orders previously dispatched across the Atlantic.  The importers could return those goods, turn them over to the local Committee of Inspection to store until the boycott ended, or have the committee sell them, reimburse the importer for costs, and designate any profits for relief of residents of Boston.  For the sake of both transparency and compliance, the tenth article also specified that “a particular Account [be] inserted in the publick Papers.”

Such was the case when James Angell, “Clerk of the Committee,” inserted an advertisement in the January 21, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette.  That notice announced the upcoming sale of “sundry Merchandize, imported from Great Britain, via New-York.”  That included “6 Tierces [large barrels], 3 Barrels, 5 Bales, 2 Boxes, 1 Hamper, [and] 24 Crates” of unspecified goods as well as “1 Bundle, containing 2 Dozen of Frying Pans” and “8 Bundles, containing 4 Dozen of Iron Shovels.”  As was the case in similar advertisements in other newspapers, the Committee of Inspection did not provide the same extensive catalog of merchandise that merchants and shopkeepers often did to attract the attention of prospective customers when they composed their own newspaper notices.  The committee merely made clear that a notable quantity of items would go up for sale.  The goods “were shipped at Liverpool on board the Ship Daniel, Capt. Casey, the 15th of September, and arrived at New-York since the first Day of December last.”  That accounting made clear that the items had been ordered and shipped before the First Continental Congress agreed on the details of the Continental Association, yet since they arrived after that pact went into effect they fell under its jurisdiction.  On behalf of the Committee of Inspection, Angell decreed that the sale would occur “agreeable to the Association of the Continental Congress.”